Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along — Day 11

Welcome back for the 11th and final day of the Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along!

Today we're finishing our darling little pillows with an overlapping back and binding.


In addition to your quilted pillow top, you'll need:

• ½ yard red print for pillow back
• ¼ yard binding fabric
• 16" x 16" pillow form

Once again, I'll include instructions here and on a printable pattern sheet—here's the link.

Day 11:  Finishing

Cutting:

From the red print, cut:

• (2) backing panels 12½" x 16½"

From the binding fabric, cut:

• (2) binding strips 2½" x 42" (Width of Fabric)

Assembly:

1.  Trim the batting and muslin even with the quilted pillow top.

2.  Fold one long edge (16½”) of a backing panel toward the wrong side ½” twice and press to form a hem.

3.  Stitch close to the inside folded edge to finish the hem.

4.  Repeat to hem the second backing panel.

5.  Lay quilted pillow top face down on a flat surface.  Layer a backing panel on the back of the quilted pillow top sandwich with right side down and wrong side up, and raw edges aligned.

6.  In the same manner, layer the remaining backing panel on the opposite edge of the pillow top sandwich with raw edges aligned.

7.  Pin to secure all layers.  Machine baste ⅛” from raw edges if desired.

8.  Join the 2 binding strips and bind as usual.

9.  Insert pillow form.

10.  And voilà!  You did it!

Here's my finished pillow.  I really love how bright and colorful it is and that candy-striped binding is so sweet!

And here's a picture of both of my pillows together.  They're so different, but I love them both!

If you love the look of quilted projects embellished with appliqué and embroidery, you might want to take a look at my book, "Stitching for the Seasons."  Inside you'll find 20 seasonal quilting projects, 14 of which combine patchwork, embroidery and appliqué.  The book is available at booksellers and quilt shops—wherever you like to buy quilting books!  For more information and a peek inside, check out the book page on my website.

Thank you so much for following along with the Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along.  I've thoroughly enjoyed being your host and I hope that you've had fun stitching your way through the season!  

But most of all, I hope you have yourself a Merry Little Christmas and a Happy New Year!

All my best,

—jen

Casey, my sweet quilting companion

Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along — Day 10

Welcome back for Day 10 of the Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along!

Today we're going to tackle assembling our quilted pillow tops and adding the red big-stitch quilting that ties this charming pillow together!


You'll need:

• Your 9 appliquéd blocks
• ¼ yard background fabric (mine is a white tone-on-tone)
• 18" x 18" piece of batting
• 18" x 18" piece of muslin (or a similar lining fabric)
• Red size 8 perle cotton

I'll include today's instructions both here and on a printable pattern sheet.  Here's the link for the pattern sheet.

Day 10:  Assembly

I love the look of the red big-stitch quilting on this project, but if you're short on time, you could also do a decorative machine stitch on the sashing rows and borders.  Layering your pieced top with the batting and muslin will help add dimension to whatever decorative quilting or stitching you choose to do.

The layout that I used for my pillow top is only a suggestion.  I used a different one for my traditional pillow, although I did keep the gingerbread man in the center of both because it's the only brown block.  Here's a look back at my traditional pillow:

Once again, do what you love and make it your own!

That's it for today!  I'll see you back here on Sunday for the final day of the Stitch-Along.

Happy Stitching!

—jen

Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along — Day 9

Welcome back for Day 9 of the Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along!

For our 9th and final appliqué block, we'll be making Christmas Trees.  I've used metallic floss and seed beads to decorate my tree, but feel free to decorate yours however you like.  For the garland, you could use regular floss or a more decorative stitch, and for the ornaments you could substitute tiny buttons, bells or even stitched French knots.  Have fun and make it your own!

And here's the Christmas Tree that I made for my traditional pillow:

Have fun making your last block!  I'll see you back here on Friday for Day 10 and our first day of assembly.  Can't wait!

—jen

Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along — Day 8

It's Monday morning and I'm so happy to be back here for Day 8 of the Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along!

Today we're making ornament blocks!

This is a super simple block, but the embroidered stars and the whipped blanket stitch around the red stripe make it extra special.  I love how the whipped blanket stitch resembles candy striping!

If you need more help with the whipped blanket stitch, you can find a lot of pictures and short tutorial videos online by searching "whipped blanket stitch."

Here's the ornament block I made for my traditional version of the pillow.  The red/white whipped blanket stitch really stands out on this block!  I think this may be my new favorite embroidery stitch—maximum output for minimum input!

That's it for today!  I'll see you back here on Wednesday for Day 9 and our last little block.  Can't wait!

—jen

Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along — Day 7

It's Day 7 of the Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along and today we're making candy canes!

The instructions for today's block are a little bit different.  When I first attempted this block, I tried fusing and appliquéing the candy cane shape first and then fusing and appliquéing the stripes afterwards, but to my eye, the block looked a bit bulky and messy.  I'd also had a difficult time neatly aligning the outer edges of the white stripes with the outer edge of the candy cane, especially with the thicker wool.

So I tried again, but this time, I cut the white stripes longer than the patterns at both outer ends and fused them in place on the candy cane first, using a piece of parchment paper beneath the candy cane to be sure it didn't stick to my ironing board.  With the longer stripes in place, I flipped the candy cane over and trimmed the stripes even with the outer edge of the candy cane.  Then I fused the whole unit to the background fabric, blanket stitched the white stripes only on their inner edges and finished by using red floss to blanket stitch around the outer edge of the entire candy cane.  Using this method made for a much neater finished product.

And for a little more eye candy, here's the candy cane block that I made for my traditional pillow:

Thanks for stopping by on your weekend!  I'll see you back here Monday for Day 8!

—jen

Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along — Day 6

Welcome back for Day 6 of the Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along.  We're halfway through the Stitch-Along now, and as we get closer to Christmas, I'm definitely enjoying taking a break every other day to stitch these sweet little blocks!

Today we'll be making stockings.  The stocking block, with its white cuff, has the potential to look a lot like the mitten block that we made on Day, so I decided to change things up.  Instead of using matching white embroidery floss to blanket stitch the cuff, I used the same green that I planned to use for the lazy daisy holly leaves.  The stitching definitely shows up more, so I worked hard to keep it even, but I think the contrast is worth it.  

And here's the stocking block that I made for my traditional pillow.  I love the background fabric for this block, especially how the holly leaves and berries echo the stitching on the stocking's cuff.  And the red tweed wool?  Seriously gorgeous!

That's it for today!  Have fun stitching your stockings and I'll see you back here on Saturday for Day 7!

—jen

Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along — Day 5

It's Day 5 of the Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along and today we're making gingerbread men!

Between the brushed texture of the flannel/wool, the contrast of the white stitching and the darling peppermint buttons, these little gingerbread men look just like cookies!

And here's the gingerbread man block that I made for my traditional pillow using a slightly darker brown wool:

You may notice that the buttons that I used for this block are a bit smaller.  They're also from JABC, namely the tiny peppermint swirl (sku:  nh1067.T).

Have fun making your own gingerbread men and feel free to embellish them as much as you like.  I've kept mine pretty simple, but if you search online for gingerbread man cookie images, you'll find a lot of great ideas.  I can't wait to see what you come up with!

—jen

Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along — Day 4

Welcome back for Day 4 of the Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along!  Thank you for taking a few minutes out of your precious weekend to be here!

Today we're making a little mitten block embellished with a charming snowflake.

Here's a look at the mitten that I stitched for my traditional pillow:

I love how the pattern of the wool resembles knitting!  I wouldn't mind having a pair of mittens that looked just like this!

That's it for today!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and I'll see you back here Tuesday for Day 5's block—can't wait!

—jen

Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along — Day 3

Happy Friday!  It's Day 3 of the Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along and today we're making Santa's hat!

We'll spruce up the cuff of the hat with an embroidered garland, complete with French knot berries, and then top the hat off with a sweet little snowflake button.  My button is the "small snowflake" (sku 4442.s) from Just Another Button Company—I love, love, love their buttons!

The hat pattern has already been reversed for use with the fusible web.  I've also drawn a sample wavy line on the cuff for the stitched garland.  Use my line as a pattern, draw your own or simply freehand stitch a wavy line—once you add the straight stitches and berries to the garland, the wavy line doesn't show up very much, so don't worry about making it perfect.

Here's the Santa hat that I made with wool for my traditional pillow:

I love the red plaid wool that I used for the hat.  It's subtle, but gives it a bit of extra texture—so much fun!

I'll be back here on Sunday with a new block.  In the meantime, have fun making your Santa hats!

—jen

Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along — Day 2

We're back for Day 2 of the Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along and today we're making gift blocks!

This is is simple little block, but it's made extra special by the embroidery in the ribbon and bow top!

If you'd like to mark your embroidery before stitching, I've got a few thoughts for you.  For this project, I experimented with a chalk pencil, chalk transfer paper and a disappearing ink pen.  I found that I liked using the disappearing ink pen on the flannel.  The ink did disappear overnight, but I discovered that I could also speed along the process by spritzing it with water and blotting it dry.  For the wool, I had better luck with the chalk pencil and the chalk transfer paper.

Whichever marking implement you choose, do a test with the actual flannel or wool you're using to be sure that your markings can be removed when you've finished stitching.  And if you're just trying to mark a straight line, like with today's block, thin masking tape is always a great option—just lay it down, stitch along the edge, gently pull it off and voila!

Here's the wool gift block that I made for my traditional version of the pillow.  My favorite part is the red stitching on the white ribbon and bow—it has a kind of peppermint stick vibe that I love!

And that's it for today!  Happy stitching and I'll see you back here Friday for our next block!

—jen

Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along — Day 1

Welcome to Day 1 of the Merry Little Christmas Stitch-Along!

The holiday season is underway and we have only a few short weeks remaining for holiday preparations.  Yikes!  When I came up with the idea for this stitch-along, I envisioned a fun and easy project that would give us an excuse to slow down for an hour or two every other day, while still being gently productive (and right now, I'm feeling pretty happy about that decision!).

To that end, we'll spend most of the stitch-along hand-appliquéing charming blocks to be assembled into a pillow.  The prep work for each block takes only a few minutes and the stitching should only take a couple of hours, just long enough for a holiday movie.  I plan to do most of my stitching by the tree in the evening, with a fire in the woodstove and the tv tuned to the Hallmark Channel (I know I'm not the only one with that particular habit!).  I hope you'll find this stitch-along restorative—a chance not only to take a break from all the busyness, but also to savor the season and, of course, to make a pillow you love!

Before we get started with today's block, I have just a few housekeeping details:

• Every other day in December, from now until the 22nd, I'll be posting the next stage of our stitch-along here on the blog. 
• Links to downloadable instruction/pattern sheets for each day will be available both here and on the stitch-along page.  
• Here's the link to a general Appliqué/Embroidery Instructions sheet that you'll need to refer to throughout the stitch-along.
• I mention this on the general Appliqué/Embroidery Instructions sheet, but it's worth repeating here:  with all of your blocks, be sure to allow for seam allowances by positioning all flannel/felted wool and embellishments at least ½" from the outer raw edge of your 4½" fabric squares.
• If you haven't yet had a chance to gather your materials, no worries—here's a link to the stitch-along materials page—jump in and join us whenever you can!

All set?  Here we go!

Day 1:  Holly

Today's block is a pair of holly leaves with button holly berries.  Couldn't be simpler—or sweeter!

In the interest of keeping the blog posts short, I won't write out each day's block instructions here.  But between the general Appliqué/Embroidery Instructions sheet that I mentioned in the housekeeping details and today's pattern sheet, you should have everything you need to make today's block.

Here's a look at the Holly block that I made for my traditional pillow.  

Instead of flannel, I used felted wool in two different green plaids atop a dark red print fabric.  I love this classic look, but I've got to say, the contrast between the red gingham and the bright green flannels on my bright version makes my heart sing!!

Have fun making today's block!  And don't forget, if you post on IG or Facebook, please tag me @jendalyquilts and use the hashtag #merrylittlechristmassal.  You can also email me jendalyquilts@gmail.com.  I can't wait to see what you're making.

—jen